This document provides an overview and syllabus for an SDSU Modern World History course. The course will cover five phases of modern history from the 16th century to present day. It will examine major events like the Discovery of America and World Wars. Recurring themes like the development of government ideologies and technology will also be studied. Students will complete five papers and a final exam essay to demonstrate their understanding of the eras and ability to use evidence. Class meetings will include lectures on overall narratives and discussions in sections about assigned readings. A participation grade will also be given.

1. SDSU § HIST. 101: MODERN WORLD HISTORY § ED BEASLEY § SPRING 2009
(no www.) empiretheory.fortunecity.net § Office Hrs MW 11:30-1:00, in AL 572
Course Goals: I want you to know the major phases, events, and themes of modern world history, and to
illustrate and evaluate your historical thinking with your own informed choice of historical evidence. I want you
to use and evaluate our primary and secondary sources, and to practice writing about and discussing them at the
college level. Using sources in this way will help you to see how history is studied and thought about by careful
people. And it will help you to better understand and assimilate the modern historical developments that we are
studying. You will not be tested on little things. You will use evidence of your own choice to explore big things.
The major phases of history that we will examine are (1) globalization in the sixteenth through eighteenth
centuries; (2) the industrial and democratic revolutions of the late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries; (3)
progress and imperialism in the nineteenth century; (4) totalitarianism, global war, and genocide in the first half of
the twentieth century; and (5) the attempt to reconnect history to human values in the period since 1945. (These
five phases correspond to the five sections of the course outline given below.) Some of our major events are the
Discovery of America, the American and French Revolutions, and the First and Second World Wars. As we go
through the term, you should always know where were are in a big timeline of history that we will be working on.
Some of the major recurrent themes that we will study are (1) the development of different ideas about
government, such as absolutism, conservatism, nationalism, liberalism, imperialism, socialism, and fascism; (2)
the rise of ever more sophisticated technology, and the consequences it has for people's life-chances and ideas
about the world; (3) the increase in population and in global connections; and (4) the question of the origin and
meaning of war and mass murder.
Course Outcomes: You will be able to remember and diagram the main sequence of modern events in some
detail, discuss and write about the phases and themes of modern history, choose and synthesize evidence about the
events and the themes orally and in thesis/evidence-centered writing, and evaluate (both orally and in your written
work) differing historical arguments about key controversies.
Accordingly, you will do five papers, each worth 10% of the course grade, and each in the form of a
thesis-evidence essay. Each paper will be a two-and-one-half- to three-page, typed, double-spaced essay, due in
section. Your TA (Teaching Assistant) will customize the topic for your discussion section, and specify the
readings or parts of readings to use. The papers will be due in Weeks IV, VI, IX, XII, and XIV. Late work will be
docked one third of a grade per business day. Work must be handed to your TA in person, and not left in any
place or mailed in any form, physical or electronic.
A final exam consisting of two essay questions to be answered in class during the two-hour final exam
period will be 30% of your course grade. The questions will be available two weeks before the exam. The exam
will be in the regularly scheduled exam period of Wednesday, 20 May, 8:00-10:00 A.M., in our lecture room.
The grading system for the papers and the final exam is as follows: If you have a point (a thesis) in a clear
introduction; if you develop that point in the rest of your essay, and back up what you are saying with appropriate
evidence; if you write clearly (with no distracting pattern of grammatical errors); and if you came to a worthwhile
conclusion, one that is more than simply a mechanical repeat of the thesis -- then (assuming all that) your
argument is doing it job, and it will get a B. An argument that does not have all of the parts (intro. w/thesis, body
paragraphs with accurate evidence, conclusion), gets a C, if it is otherwise OK. In other words, you need a
complete functioning structure of both argument and evidence to get a B.
To get an A, you must go beyond having some good evidence for your case, and go beyond the evidence
that was highlighted in class, so that you have the best evidence to make your specific case. That us, you will be
showing that you know the reading well enough to pick the best evidence for your paper, and that you have
developed your argument well enough to require specific evidence. "A" work shows selection and judgment.
And as always in a history class, our account of the past is the set of words that we use to describe it; in
other words, grammar and style count. Use good simple sentences. Your papers will be marked for grammar.
Your TA will not know what you are saying apart from the words that you are using to say it. Test every phrase
and sentence for accuracy and simplicity.

2. Participation in your discussion section is 20% of your grade. Your TA may include geography and
reading quizzes within this grade, or base the whole grade on a subjective judgment of your level of participation.
Course Structure: In lecture we will look at the overall story of modern history, and the major themes and events
that the readings pertain to. In discussion section, you will talk about the readings in detail. Discussion sections
are also the place to work on writing, and to review the lecture material. Your TA will be grading your work, as
well as assigning you a grade for participation in section.
Place of the course in the SDSU General Education Program: This course is one of four Foundations courses that you
will take in the area of Humanities and Fine Arts. Upon completing of this area of Foundations, you will be able to: 1)
analyze written, visual, or performed texts in the humanities and fine arts with sensitivity to their diverse cultural contexts
and historical moments; 2) describe various aesthetic and other value systems and the ways they are communicated across
time and cultures; 3) identify issues in the humanities that have personal and global relevance; 4) demonstrate the ability to
approach complex problems and ask complex questions drawing upon knowledge of the humanities.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Lecture outlines will not be available on-line – there is no substitute for being in lecture every day, and thinking
through issues as they are introduced and presented.
PART ONE: THE AGRICULTURAL STAGE OF HUMANITY: 8000 B.C.E. TO ~1750 C.E.
Week I {26–28 Jan.}: Humanity in the Ecosystems, from 10,000 years ago to 30 Years after 1492.
Readings: Reilly #s 6, 7, 8, 9.
Week II {2-4 Feb.}: Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Europe: From Charles V vs. Luther to Absolutism vs.
Parliaments.
Readings: Spence, Chap. 1; Reilly #s 14, 15, 16, 17, 19; Domat on Absolutist Order – at
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1687domat.html ; English Bill of Rights (1687); the English Bill of Rights
(1689) -- at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1689billofrights.html.
Week III {9-11 Feb.}: European Ships: Plantationization and Slavery.
Readings: The Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789), pp. 41-78bottom, 83-86bottom, 97-141, 152-169bottom, 210-214.
PART TWO: GLOBALIZATION AND INDUSTRY, ~1750-1848:
THE WORLD CHANGES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 10,000 YEARS.
Week IV {16-18 Feb.}: The Industrial Revolution.
Readings: Reilly #s 27, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 41, 42, 46; http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1842womenminers.html
Week V {23-25 Feb.}: The Seven Years War (1756-1763) and Its Consequences / The French Revolution (1789) and
Its Lessons.
Reading: Reilly #s 36, 37, 38, 39, 40; the Decree Abolishing Feudalism (1789), -- at
http://history.hanover.edu/texts/abolfeud.html ; La Marseillaise (1792) -- at
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/marseill.html ; the Imperial Catechism of Napoleon (1806) – at
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1806catechism-napoleon.html.

3. Week VI {2-4 Mar.}: Modern Europe, 1815-: The Continental Tradition in Europe and Latin America vs. The Liberal
Tradition of England and its Overseas Settlements.
Readings: Reilly #s 43, 44; Beginning of Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy In America (1835) – at
http://empiretheory.fortunecity.net/DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA_Intro.doc.
PART THREE: INDIVIDUALITY AND IMPERIALISM IN THE HIGH NINETEENTH CENTURY,
1848-1914.
Week VII {9-11 Mar.}: The Triumph and Limits of Victorian Diversity.
Readings: Mill, On Liberty (1859), pp. 19-31, 64middle-105, 111middle-119bottom; the end of The Origin of
Species (1859) – at http://empiretheory.fortunecity.net/The last part of the conclusion of The Origin of Species.doc .
Week VIII {16-18 Mar.}: "The Individual" goes from the Tai-Ping Rebellion to Khartoum.
Readings: Spence, Chaps. 2-3; Reilly #s 48, 50, 51, 52, 53; Lin Zixu's letter to Queen Victoria (1839) – at
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/com-lin.html.
Week IX {23-25 Mar.}: The Strange Death of the Liberal Age: Nationalism and Angst.
Readings: Reilly # 54, 55, 60; Jack London on London poverty (1902)– at
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1902London-abyss.html.
PART FOUR: THE SECOND THIRTY YEARS’ WAR, 1914-1945:
WAS THERE TOO MUCH MODERNITY AND LIBERALISM, OR NOT ENOUGH?
Week X {6-8 April}: World War I: The Causes of the War / The Nature of the War.
Readings: Reilly #s 61, 62, 63, 65, 68; http://empiretheory.fortunecity.net/WWI.doc.
Week XI {13-16 April}: The Consequences of World War I: Displacement and Tyranny.
Readings: Cartoon presentation of Hayek, The Road to Serfdom (1944) – at http://www.mises.org/TRTS.htm ;
Benito Mussolini, "What is Fascism?" (1932) – at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/mussolini-fascism.html ;
Spence, Chap. 7; Reilly #s 57, 58; Marrus, pp. 10-17, 107-112.
Week XII {20-22 April}: The Coming of World War II / The Course of the War.
Readings: Spence, Chap. 9; Reilly # 69; Marrus pp. 59-63.
Week XIII {27-29 April}: The Holocaust.
Readings: Reilly #s 70, 71, 72, 73, 74; Marrus pp. 18-28, 51-55, 79-85, 89-97, 155-164, 194-211, 224-228, 234-235.
PART FIVE: THE INTERNATIONAL WORLD, 1945-?:
PUBLIC OPINION AND THE SEARCH FOR DECENCY AND MEANING.
Week XIV {4-6 May}: The Cold War and Civil Rights, at home and Abroad.
Readings: Martin Luther King, "How Should a Christian View Communism?"; Spence, Chap. 10 and Conclusion.
Week XV {11-13 May}: The Fall of the Wall and the Rise in Population.
Reading: Reilly #s 93, 94, 95.
Books to Buy: Olaudah Equiano, The Life of Olaudah Equiano. / Michael Marrus, The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial.
J.S. Mill, On Liberty. / Kevin Reilly, Worlds of History, vol. 2. / Jonathan Spence, To Change China.